say i want my fox news talk. hopefully you'll take action and they'll sober up in these negotiations between xm and fox. >> steve: we'll call. >> alisyn: and another programming note, i hope you'll tune in tonight at 10 p.m a very special fox files. i got a chance to go behind the scenes of csi new york with gary sinise and he is possibly one of the most special people i've ever met. what he does for the troops is unbelievable. he doesn't talk about it much. it's understated. but he opens up about it. tonight he gets emotional and it's a great fox files. >> steve: kenny thomas will join us in the after the show show. we might not see you next week. have a merry christmas, everybody. .

bill: good morning, everyone. we will hear from speaker john boehner puzo did not go through. he could not get the support from his own party to pass the vote. the vote happened late in the night last night. we wonder what he says today and where we go. fireworks happening today, welcome to "america's newsroom." i am bill hemmer "zero dark martha: hello, i am martha mccallum. speaker john boehner's news conference is expected to address what we will do now. he will basically, i would imagine, say we have not been able to get these things together. >> he has said that the senate democrats need to come up with a plan and expose it. there was a lot of turmoil inside the republican party right now. here he is talking we lassman about that.

>> out of the with the number is. say the number is 40. it's the same 40 chuckleheads that started with hr-1. and he has done everything in his power to bring them along, to make them feel better. but it hasn't mattered. bill: douglas leaders in washington. good morning. not an easy night for speaker john boehner. >> yes, he is coming off as having a very difficult day. he was hoping that his fellow republicans would rally around his across-the-board tax hikes that come with a fiscal cliff great he was asking fiscal conservatives to swallow some tax hikes. only on those that make more than a million dollars per year

for some, that was a bridge too far. >> he is my speaker and i support him strongly. he is in a very difficult position. but i just happen to disagree with this in the correct message. raising taxes on any american, to me is not the right message at all. it is cutting spending. >> the speaker points out that the house has passed a measure that will stop all the tax hikes next year. as he said, it is all in the hands of the senate. bill: will we hear from the president? swivels democratic governments do in response? >> and i think the short answer is probably not much. at least not in the immediate offering here. the senate is in session today, but there's nothing more until later next week. as for the president, he is still holding out for higher taxes. the statement is that the

president will work with covers to get this done. they hope to find a bipartisan solution quickly to protect the middle class and our economy. i love that the president is dead will to leave for his christmas vacation today. though scheduled at the moment, but we will see. bill: thank you so much, douglas leaders. it will be a critical part of the story and we will have it covered for you by. speak your another big story today is dow futures are tumbling. less than half an hour away. twenty-six minutes plus before they start trading on this friday before the christmas holiday. some analysts predict that we could see a huge selloff. what does it mean for you and your 401k? what should you do to get ready for a? stuart varney joins us now. host of "varney & company."

what do you expect the reaction of the? reporter: big tax cuts, big spending cuts, the likelihood has just gone up a lot. that means that the stock market will open lower. maybe a loss of up to 200 points of the dow jones industrial average. then, if we follow through on this, it means we will have a weaker economy. certainly in the early part of next year. it will affect the job market, it might hurt the resurging housing market, and certainly affect overall economic growth. that means that your 401k will likely take a hit. at least in the early going. so will the ira and any investments that you hold in the stock market will be down as of today. how the market finishes at the end of the day, you don't know. because john boehner is holding a press conference at 10:00 o'clock eastern time this morning. whatever he says could move this market one way or the other. it will open lower.

martha: people should say this is the friday before the holiday. a lot have locked in their positions. heading out of trading yesterday, i would imagine. >> that means if it's a thin market without much volume of trading, that could exacerbate the moves. they could be more sharply down. or the rebound would be more sharply up. that trading volume will affect the kind of moves that we see in prices. martha: stuart varney, thank you so much. so what would it mean if lawmakers fail to strike a deal? according to the tax policy center, 90% of americans would see a tax hike in 2013. i think most people feel like that will happen in one way shape or form, no matter what. 100 million people will pay more in payroll tax. which is set to expire. families making between 40 and $50,000 a year, which is a lot

of americans, will have to pay about $2000 extra in 2013 to the government. as a result of all this. bill: six minutes past the hour. the mayan calendar was wrong. fox news on this first day of winter shows the midwest digging out after the first major snowstorm we have seen this year. folks in ohio and pennsylvania and western new york facing winter storm warnings. this after a storm ripped across the central part of the country. we have mike towbin at chicago o'hare. mike, good morning. reporter: you know, if you are getting on your plane at jfk at lax and you are not delayed by the chicago o'hare ripple effect, you can thank the guy who built lake michigan but next to chicago. as we look at the board, no red color. there are some flight cancellations out of o'hare, but they are due to a myriad of reasons, mechanical problems, bad weather, and icy roads where

the planes have to win. big crowds right now, but that is because there are so many people. some 200,000 people are going over the holidays. going through chicago o'hare alone. he will have crowds for a visa to get to the airport early. busiest travel day of the year. but it looks like you're going home to see grandma from airborne to make it. bill: some people are criticizing cancellations because some snow did not hit in certain areas. what's going on? reporter: wisconsin, in particular, they got some 20 inches of snow were madison is located. about 30,000 people without power there. the northern two thirds of indiana are also without power and tons of snow. central indiana also had snow. also, chicago is cooking along. the snow turned to rain things to the great lakes. bill: thank you, mike.

martha: poor visibility is being blamed for a deadly reaction crash in iowa. two people have died and several were injured. it involved 25 cars. look at this mass that happened on interstate 35 from about 60 miles north of des moines. dozens of accidents have been reported throughout the state. hundreds of snow plows will be out this morning. trying to clear the roads, the efforts made afterwards there to try and rescue people in that horrific crash. bill: what a challenge that is. another fox news alert. the largest employer challenging the government's contraceptive mandate, losing an injunction challenge for the 10th circuit has refused to grant hobby lobby , one of the largest employers, saying that they will appeal to the supreme court if hobby lobby is not granted injunction. it does not plan to comply with a mandate. the company says it will cost

about $1.3 million per day in fines. there are currently 40 plus cases pending against the mandate. the supreme court has yet to step in on the fray on this issue. shannon bream reported moments ago. reporter: martha: top state department officials and the deadly conflict report in libya. william burns testifying before the senate relations committee on behalf of secretary hillary clinton. we saw the first part of this yesterday. as we know, she has been absent after suffering a concussion. senator jon barrasso says they his questions cannot be fully answered until she testifies. which is expected in january. >> well, it is a very damning report. it tells you that clearly, mistakes were made. lives were lost. hopefully there will be lessons learned. we will hear from the secretary of state, and i believe that the president and this administration had a deliver a cover-up. or if you want to call it that

-- i think an effort to deceive the american people from the beginning. we need to know that the president promised that he would find out and get to the bottom of this area to do this, who is responsible. we still don't know. i asked that question in the hearings today. i was basically stonewalled with an answer. we need secretary of state clinton to testify in person, in public, and on the record. bill: the slain ambassador, christopher stevens, sent at least 15 classified cables, warning of security problems in benghazi, libya. sending this to the state department before the september 11, attack. we will discuss this with senator bob corker when he joins us here in "america's newsroom." bill: we are just getting started. breaking news on a former marine being held at a mexican prison. one serene, always a marine. we have an update on that next. martha: taxpayers in limbo as washington continues to battle

over the fiscal cliff. some republicans have even rejected a backup plan for speaker john boehner. what happens now? bill: is a good question. for the first time since the newtown, connecticut, tragedy, the nra publicly speaks out. we are 90 minutes away from a moment of silence in newtown, connecticut. you will see that here. [ fishing rod casting line, marching band playing ] [ male announcer ] the rhythm of life. [ whistle blowing ] where do you hear that beat? campbell's healthy request soup lets you hear it... in your heart. [ basketball bouncing ] heart healthy. great taste. mmm... [ male announcer ] sounds good. it's amazing what soup can do.

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martha: according to the reports we are getting now, who we spoke with in fox newsroom, olivia hammer claims that the mexican court has ruled in his favor. he is ruled to be released today at a time that is to be announced. we are hoping that we will speak with mrs. hammer or john hammer's dad in the coming couple of hours. we are reaching out to them. this is a marine that fought in iraq and afghanistan. we will get you the latest women get it. one that's coming up at. bill: in the meantime, 45 minutes from now. you are watching how speaker john boehner, his bowl last night on a tax measure that would be painful for most

americans. the associate politics editor for roll call, charles payne, the political equation to this gentleman. starting with david, what now? >> i think from what we saw last night, any sort of tax increase of any kind ever -- one of two things are going to happen. either the president and the speaker or the president and the speaker and hairy -- terry reed, democrats will model for anything without some kind of tax increase on higher earners. it will scare enough republicans to vote for something that is worse than plan b. something that is a week away,

something in january, as the entire country blames him for going over the fiscal cliff. one thing on the politics of this, it is true that if we go into a double dip recession, and things stayed up for long time, eventually the president will have ownership of this and voters look at him and his leadership. but he was just reelected. weeks ago. he campaigned on this, his approval at 55%. right now, he's going to get the benefit of the doubt, even from people who might prefer the taxes don't go up on anybody. they will say that he won, the government needs work it out. >> from what i hear from the white house is nervous about it. they don't want to go over the fiscal cliff. charles, addressed david's point about the markets and the amount of pressure. we can get in all kinds of theories and talk about what will happen a few weeks from now. what is going to happen today? >> today the markets are indicating that they will go down sharply. immediately after they said that they wouldn't be an equity future, we were surprised that we were down 200 points or

navigate with the stock market. you know, the stock market is really -- they are really kind of taking a role that traditionally belongs to the bond market. especially in regards to coal mines, attempting to pressure washington to come up with some sort of a deal. i would caution against using the stock market, you know, really wanting them as something that would be inclusive for the entire economy. you know, hitting the so-called fiscal cliff january 1, it probably won't have a major impact immediately. bill: what about the double dip recession that david mentioned? >> a lot of people think that the double dip recession comes with the fiscal cliff b1 are you saying that the possibility? >> it has been a possibility all along. if you take out the gdp number, which is influenced by government spending and inflation, this is always something that is hovering over our heads. i think the goal should probably

be beyond a short-term double dip into long-term economic solutions are capable. that is why a lot of people are saying on wall street -- bill: but if you have a long-term solution, the market would take off? >> here's the thing though, bill, there are two different philosophies. really punishing small businesses throughout the crux of this argument, who have been the saviors of this argument, helping us avoid double dip recession, that's nuts. a lot of people are now starting to say on wall street that maybe no billed is better than a faulty bill. bill: david, what the speaker john boehner said? >> i have been told that he's going to reiterate what he said last night. after plan b failed, it's up to the senate and the president to work through a bill that will get through congress and avoid the fiscal cliff. he will probably talk about being ready to have members next week to vote on something. something with a doable

standpoint. he needs to say, well, we need to give the president what he says he wants. a tax increase on millionaires and billionaires. >> it's a big deal for him to conceive. bill: you know, and they don't want to do it, which shows the fallacy of their argument. now, republicans in the house are out of the loop. gentlemen, thank you so much. late last night, apparently in a conference, there was a question as to whether or not they would even come back on december 26. we shall see. david zucker, charles payne, thank you both so much. speak to the international space station is about to get three new crew members. one american is on board. we have a live report on that event coming up next. bill: tough questions on benghazi. we will talk to senator bob corker when he joins us live in minutes

martha: martha: the international space station docking moments ago, a spacecraft during an american, a canadian, and a russian astronaut. peter ducey is live in washington. good morning, martha. they will be up there for five months. we just heard the announcement. the three astronauts and the astronauts already on board will celebrate christmas in space.

but his three-man crew is also going to be there for valentine's day and st. patrick's day and beyond. all the way to make 2013. the russians using spacecraft that just dock at the international space station. a canadian astronaut, he will become canada's first. and tom marshburn, who has been tweeted a lot about his preparation for his final trip above the earth. it's taken these men more than two full days to get from kansas to the international space station. the american roadbed he was enjoying his last cup of coffee before the flight. when he's not allowed to have personal electronics, but he is excited to be on board.

martha: , they do so much, peter ducey. bill: a week to the minute, a moment of silence. twenty first-graders were met by evil. we are live in newtown at the courthouse in connecticut when we return. 

bill: this is the moment we have been waiting for in newtown, connecticut. one minute and 15 seconds from now. there will be a moment of silence. to the minute when the gunmen walked into sandy hook elementary school, or forced his way in, and took the lives of 26 people, 20 children. there are more children who have funerals went today. martha: it is pouring rain in

sandy hook. the rain has been coming down all morning. it seems a fitting way. so many tears that have been poured out from these families and people who have just changed. it has resonated across the country. it changes the way that everyone has felt about christmas. you can't help but think about these families. they have to have some form of celebration for other children in the family while in such deep mourning. twenty-six bells of our vow to be wrong. twenty-six bells are about to be tolled [church bells ringing]

[church bells ringing] [church bells ringing] plan b is

[church bells ringing] >> [church bells ringing] >> [church bells ringing]

>> [church bells ringing] >> trento. >> [church bells ringing] >> [church bells ringing]

>> [church bells ringing] >> [church bells ringing] >> [church bells ringing]

>> [church bells ringing] >> [church bells ringing] >> [church bells ringing]

>> [church bells ringing] >> [church bells ringing] >> [church bells ringing]

>> [church bells ringing] >> [church bells ringing] >> [church bells ringing] >> [church bells ringing]

bill: that is the edmond town hall in newtown, connecticut. the image was on the right, it was the trinity episcopal church. it is basically across the street. in this area of town, it is about -- well, it's sits on top of the hill. the giant flagpole is a landmark graded stretch is 10 stories tall. now flying at half mast dashboard half staff, rather. that area is 2 miles from the sandy hook elementary school. virtually all downhill from there until you get to the elementary school. you can imagine at this moment, seven days ago -- the kurds and police officers and firefighters who came and went screaming down the hill.

martha: you hear the bells and you think about the christmas bells. in despair, i bow my head, there is no peace on earth. peace on earth, goodwill towards men. it goes on to say that god is not dead, nor does he sleep. the dark shall fail and might prevail and peace on earth good will towards men. a very difficult time for these families and for so many across the country. everyone must prevail in go on. bill: our prayers and our tears yet again today. rick leventhal is with us now. reporter: as those bells toll back, people were getting out of their vehicles to observe the solemn moment. we should tell you that initially come with a moment of

silence in connecticut, proposed by the governor here -- at least 40 other states also observed this this morning at 9:30 a.m., one week since the shootings here. we can also tell you a couple of updates on the investigation. the events here, yesterday, nancy lanza's body it was claimed in new hampshire. police confirmed that she had a private funeral service yesterday with about 25 friends and family, under heavy police protection. her brother, a recently retired police officer, that happened yesterday. this town continues to mourn. martha: rick leventhal, thank you so much. indeed, it does. we watched the scene in newtown, connecticut. our thoughts and prayers are with all of the people there and across the country who remember these children and educators in the families who are affected by it. we will be right back. i always wait until the last minute.

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for a special $200 rebate. that number again... and discover siemens eclipse hearing aids today. martha: the first time since the shooting in newtown, the national rifle association will publicly address this tragedy one week later. the group released a statement a few days ago. since then, the nra has been silent for a president obama called on the organization to join a broad effort to reduce gun violence. we will show you what the president said in a second here. bringing in juan williams, and brad blakeman. gentlemen, welcome and good to have you here today we met her to be with you, martha. martha: you know, a lot of

people have criticized the silence from the nra. we understand that they will speak out today. people feel, many of them, that their voices will join this chorus to call for an end to certain weapons and that would be a good thing going forward. what do you say to this? >> i expected the nra will say that this is not, to their mind, the responsibility of people that are legitimate gun owners in the country. they are always looking to advance education of people who own firearms. they will caution against any effort to jeopardize second amendment rights in this country to people to bear arms. i expect that they would express sympathy. they anticipate this is a step

that is coming from the hill and the white house. martha: it does make you shake your head and say, is there a difference that can be made by this? i was shocked when you're talking points this morning. you enter it shareable experience of gun violence as an 18-year-old. how does that affect you at all this? >> well ,-com,-com ma when i was eight years old, we had an attempted kidnapping in her home in california. two guys with guns -- we were

waiting to be rescued. i felt exactly what those kids were feeling. i never found out in my situation how these guys were able to get guns. the fact of the matter is we can only talk about the mentality without talking about accessibility. martha: there are a lot of democrats and republicans who feel, you know, some of the holdings in the nra. they are afraid to say that they disagree with him on anything. they think it will hurt them in the elections. what do you think about that? >> well, we need to have a discussion. as justice scalia said when he was interviewed about guns, the second amendment is the right to bear arms. the question is what types of arms to the american people need

to have? this is a discussion that we must have as technology gets better, guns get more available, and not only that, but the technology of delivering the types of ammunition is something that we have to question, is whether or not there is a need for the public to have these kind of weapons. martha: juan williams? your quick thoughts? >> we have to advance the idea on limits on who can get it done in terms of looking at people who have a felony record, even a misdemeanor record of domestic violence, people who have mental illness. those that we have to give opportunities for treatment and we have to have sharing of data. not only to key federal agencies ranging from social security. you can't handle your money, you shouldn't have a gun. also the people who are in any kind of dishonorable discharge from military. we should know that. you are entitled to have a gun, they say.

those are on a fast track on capitol hill right now. martha: as the president said, a lot of space between the second amendment and the issue of who should have access. anyone who really wants to do violence can absolutely carry out that violence. a lot of questions and discussions about how to make it tougher for folks. >> i think america is gorgeous up on this one. martha: juan williams and brad blakeman, thank you both so much. bill: 11 minutes to the hour. tough questions after the murders and benghazi. are the senators satisfied with the answers? after this. >> you are aware of the security risk there. we have read the cables. you were fully aware. either you sent people there with security, or you don't send them there at all. bill: senator bob corker is asking several of these questions and he will join us live in a moment on that. martha: we have breaking news

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martha: jitters on wall street as the fiscal cliff looms closer. a lot of trading, a lot of traders are gone. placing their bets -- the markets down about 115 points on this friday before christmas week. just wanted to cut up to speed on that. we will let you know. we have speaker john boehner coming up as well. bill: state department officials promising improved security after the attacks and benghazi. bob corker, a member of the senate foreign relations committee was questioned yesterday. senator, good morning to you.

>> good morning, bill. bill: what you think? >> we need to have another hearing. secretary clinton said she takes responsibly for what happens and she needs to come to our committee and talk about the flavored things that have happened. causing the security at benghazi to be so lax. bill: they were saying even 99% is not good enough. they talked about needing more money. >> yes, that's the most -- the main part of this. in hearing this the other day in a closed session, everyone is talking about the need for more money. the fact is that they had 16 security officers that were being provided for free as it relates to the state department. they sent home three weeks prior to this happening. this is not about money. unfortunately here in washington, the first answer always is money. that's not the issue here.

i think the state department has a culture there that doesn't breed any kind of creative thinking. thinking outside the box, making sure that things are done in a detailed way. that's what we need to be focused on. we've never done a top to bottom review of the state department since i've been here. it needs to happen, the culture needs to change. candidly, this is a wake-up call. i think we are all concerned that. bill: you are saying medullary clinton must testify me believe she will do so possibly january. to be frank, it seems like an felt and felt like she was the person is in that room yesterday. >> well, she has had a ball and she does have a concussion and i hope she has a speedy recovery. but i can't imagine swearing in a new secretary of state without closing the chapter here. an understanding what the thinking was, especially in benghazi, a part of libya with militias controlled by the kind of security this compound had. i've seen the tapes of both are security cameras there.

also from the drones that evening. you and i could easily have broken into the compound that night. it was amazing to watch. this is a pretty big security breach. one of the most important things we can do for our personnel involved, especially in dangerous areas, is to ensure that they have good security. before i want to take up a new secretary of state, i would like the secretary to comment and talk about the culture. i think it would be very helpful for the new person coming in to be able to understand what the thinking was about time. i am almost sure that it's going to happen. bill: it came up yesterday that marco rubio was deeply troubled by the fact that there was no evidence that the meetings that took place with state department officials with the libyan counterparts did not talk about the security matters on the ground and benghazi. that is stunning. i only have about 10 seconds. was your last answer?

>> listen, i have read all the cables. lots of security problems known. we should have security there. we didn't have an ambassador there and we need to get to the bottom of it. bill: thank you, senator bob corker wiki we are waiting for an update from john boehner on this showdown over tax hikes and spending cuts. it could hit americans at the beginning of the new year. as soon as that gets underway, we want to hear what john boehner says this morning the one travel trouble for millions. a real wrench in the old christmas season. plan accordingly. it will give folks time to clean thingsg up. fortunately we've got ink. it gives us 5x the rewards on our internet, phone charges and cable,

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martha: fox news alert, we are wear iting to hear from house speaker john boehner. we expect that to happen in the room you see there any moment now. we understand it is imminent. he will talk of course about the fiscal cliff crisis as it

threatens to show us into another recession. let's listen to john boehner. >> we didn't have the votes to pass the tax bill last night. it's knots the outcome that i wanted, but that was the will of the house. unless the president and congress take action tax rates will go up on every american taxpayer, and devastating the defense cuts will go into effect in ten days. the house has already passed bills addressing the fiscal cliff. we passed a bill of replacing the president's sequester with responsible spending cuts and did it last may. we passed a bill that stop all the tax hikes on the american people scheduled to take effect january the 1st, and we did that on august the 1st. and we proposed plans over and over again that democrats used to support but now they won't. i don't want taxes to go up. republicans don't want taxes to go up.

but we only run the house. the democrats continue to run washington. what the president has proposed so far simply won't do anything to solve our spending problem. he wants more spending, and more tax hikes that will hurt our economy. and he simply won't deal honestly with entitlement reform and the big issues that are facing our country. we need significant spending cuts and real tax reform to address our long-term debt problem and pave the way for long-term growth and real growth in jobs in our country. we'll continue to work with our colleagues in the house and the senate on a plan that protects families and small businesses from the fiscal cliff. >> i think we saw last night yet the next chapter in this saga of trying to resolve the situation of the fiscal cliff. it is clear that our conference

has been consistent in its commitment to doing something about the spending problem in washington, and the mounting debt that has resulted. we stand ready to continue in dialogue with this president to actually fix the problem. i hope that we see that our colleagues on the other side of the capitol can do likewise, can get serious to try and address the real problem of spending so we can get on about the business of growing this economy and get people back to work. >> mr. speaker, a lot of the arguments that you made in favor of the bill that you pulled last night, it's a multitrillion dollar tax cut to rescue all but a fraction of taxpayers from a tax increase, also would apply to the president's proposal. are you willing to give the president's proposal a vote? >> listen, the president and i had a series of conversations.

i told the president on monday, these were my bottom lines. the president told me that his numbers $1.3 trillion in new revenues, $850 billion in spending cuts was his bottom line, that he couldn't go any further. and so we see a situation where because of the political divide in the country, because of the divide here in washington, trying to bridge these differences has been difficult. if it were easy, i'll guarantee you this would have been done decades before. but we have to find a way to address this significant spending problem that we have, and we need to find a way, through tax reform, to begin to grow our economy in a way that will create more jobs in our country. >> so, what is the path forward? are you going to be speaking with the president further? and let me just reinforce this

question, are you ruling outputting on the floor for a vote the bill that passed in the senate that would extend all those tax rates for people making under $250,000? >> let me say there is no senate bill that has come to the house. as you all know the senate bill had a blue sit problem and it continues to sit in the united states senate. we don't have a senate bill. we do have a house bill that sits in the senate that extended tax rates for all americans, and we've been waiting since august the 1st for the senate to act. if the senate wants to act on that bill we'll certainly take a look eight. >> what is the path forward? are you going to be speaking to the president, are there negotiations forward? what are we going to do now? >> i'm interested in solving the major problems that face our country and that means house leaders, senate leaders and the president are going to continue to have to work together to address those concerns. >> in the budget control act there is a provision where after

the sequester on january 2nd that both bodies can privilege up a privileged resolution to shut offer the sequester. it has to be ordered. considering the dire nature of these circumstances, is that an option at this point and have you given consideration to that? >> i have not given consideration to it. we have a spending problem. and we have to address it. and we are not going to address it by kicking the can down the road, which is what you're suggesting. >> speaker boehner, mr. canter had suggested that the house would stay here until the job was done. they are obviously going home for christmas. are you giving up on your conference? are you quitting? >> absolutely not. listen, i'm proud of our members. they do a great job on behalf of their constituents and frankly a great job on behalf of our country. but what mr. cantor outlined last night is that the house would come back if needed, and we are prepared to come back if needed. >> mr. speaker, it sounds like you're walking away from talks

with the president. >> no, no, knee no, listen. i did not say that. nobody ought to read anything into this. we've got differences, but the country has got big spending problems and we've got to get serious about addressing them. >> this isn't the first time that something like this has happened during talks with the president. why you should have faith that when you negotiate with him -- >> listen the president knows that i've already been able to deliver on any promise that i've made with him. the concern that i had is that time was running short. and the idea of the taxes ought to go up on every american taxpayer i thought was wrong. in trying to address, trying to address the tax issue i thought was very important to do it now, so that we don't have taxes going up on every american and hurting our economy. >> mr. speaker, you stood here yesterday and expressed confidence that you were going to pass that bill.

>> sure did. [laughter] >> what went wrong? >> we have -- list threpb was a perception created that that vote last night was going to increase taxes. i disagree with that characterization of the bill, but that impression was out there. and we had a number of our members who just really didn't want to be perceived as having raised taxes. that was the real issue. one of my colleagues the other night had an analogy of a hundred people drowning in a pool and that he was the lifeguard. and because he couldn't save any of them, does that mean he shouldn't have done anything? and his point to them was that if i can go in there and save 99 people that are drowning that's what i should do as a lifeguard. but the perception was out there and a lot of our members did not want to have to deal with it. >> given that you clearly don't

have the votes to raise tax rates are you willing to pass a bill with a majority of democratic support at sth point? >> as i said the house has passed a bill to extend all of the current tax rates. we did it on august the 1st, it's been sitting in the senate. we pathed a bill to replace the sequester. at some point the united states senate has to do something. and what we were trying to do this week was to basically jump start and try to kick into gear some action by the senate to avert these tax increases going into effect on january 1st. >> mr. speaker, with all due respect, what impact do you think bringing up a bipartisan grand barring began that you could strike with president obama would have on the future of your speakership? >> well, listen, at some point we're going to have to address the spending problem that we have. but we can't cut our way to prosperity we need real economic growth. us believe on both sides of the

aisle the fundamental reform of our tax code will help us get our economy moving faster and put more americans back to work, and more americans on the tax rolls. how we get there, god only knows. all i've tkoeupbs is that eric and i and our team here are committed to working with colleagues on both sides of the aisle, the kapt tol capitol and the white house to address this. >> last week i asked you if you were concerned about losing your speakership and you said you were not. in light of what happened last night, if you're not concerned, shouldn't you be? >> no, i'm not. listen, you've all heard me say this. and i've told my colleagues this. if you do the right things every day for the right reasons, the right things will happen. while we may have not been able to get the votes last night to avert 99.81% of the tax increases, i don't think -- they

weren't taking that out on me. they were dealing with the perception that somebody might accuse them of raising taxes. merry christmas, everyone. thank you. martha: merry christmas, everyone. on that note a disgruntled john boehner leaves this news conference that everybody has been watching this morning. we welcome you this morning to a second hour here of "america's newsroom" on a really busy day. a lot of things are going on as we get ready for the christmas holiday. morning again, bill. bill: merry christmas. martha: thank you. bill: i'm bill hemmer along with martha maccallum. enjoy the ride here or maybe not because no one is quite sure, you know, what comes next, or what even happens next. martha: one person might be and we'll go talk to him right now in washington, chris wallace has been following this story and so many stories in washington for such a longtime. chris, i mean this is not a good night clearly for john boehner, and when the majority of the questions, or several of them have to do with whether or not you're going to lose your position as speaker of the

house, you've got to wonder what is next for him and what is next for this situation. >> reporter: no you continue be more right ancontinue be couldn't be more right. i think the big store today will be the markets. i haven't seen -- martha: down about 129, we have it up on the screen, chris now. >> reporter: i think the markets are going to take over. remember when the house row fused to pass the bank bailout four years ago and the markets dropped 700 points in one day. watch the parbgts today. parbgtmarket i thought it was owl posturing and eventually they were going to solve the fiscal cliff. with the speaker and the house majority leader putting something up yesterday and at 8:00 last night pulling it because their own caucus wouldn't vote for it, we are really in choppy waters now and headed for that cliff, and i think for the first time a lot of people are thinking, we might go over that cliff. you wait and see what happens if the market drops several hundred

points today as i think it well might. i think that that may get a lot of people's attention about the need for a compromise. look, that's where it's been all along, we need a compromise that both sides are going to hate. there has to be spending cuts, the democrats can't stomach. there have to be some tax increases the republicans nature. tha republicans hate. that's the only way you'll solve this problem and maybe the markets, and maybe the public will start to tell tell washington, no, you're going to get serious and get something done. martha: one of the questions on the republican side is it really dumps this the president's lap and democrat's lap at least for the moment. they are saying, you know what, i tried, i tried to get a deal that you would find palatable, mr. president and democrats, but now what. >> reporter: the big loser in all of this is john boehner, he's the speaker of the house. it was his caucus, he put this plan up. he took a week at this crucial time to push plan b, he ends up

with egg on his face. i thought he han he handled it fairly well today. it doesn't make the president or the democrats the winner. you're dealing with these folks, they really hate tax increases, you'll have to be much more serious about spending cuts and give them something that they can live with and i think it does put the ball in the court of the president and the democratic leaders in th senate to come up with some plan that they think can pass muster. martha: he mentioned tax reform at end saying tax reform he believes is what will ultimately stimulate the economy. we haven't heard anything about that. there doesn't seem to be any realistic discussion that we're going to see anything along those lines. >> you might but you're not going to see it in the next eleven says before the fiscal cliff, that is a long process, you have to kick that into next year. they have to deal with something that deals with the tax rates right now. remember this real quickly, the house action that they would not

take would have continued -- would only have raised taxes on less than 1% of americans and the house rejected it, otherwise it's going to go up on a hundred percent of americans. martha: thank you, we look forward to the show this weekend. >> i do too. martha: it should be interesting. on "fox news sunday." no doubt he's going to have folks on talking about this issue and also he'll talk to pastor rick warn and john brasso as well. good show. bill: the u.s. marine locked up in a mexican jail his mother confirms with fox news that he is coming home. bill o'reilly vocal on the story from the very beginning. o'reilly's reaction next. [ whistle blows ] hi victor! mom? i know you got to go in a minute but this is a real quick me,

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him a lot here. we are reporting that her son will be released today. a mexican judge has ruled in john ma'amer's favor. the war vet has been locked up since august when he tried to drive across the border with an antique shotgun. he asked how to handle it and was told to go to the next agent down the line, it was a family heirloom, and he landed in jail since august. bill o'reilly joins me on the phone. what do you think. >> it's a good christmas president for the hammer family. you have to be careful about these things until we see the

corporal here in america. martha: exactly. >> we want to be very circumspect about it. let's assume that the mexican government is doing the correct again, that is obviously a positive. i think they started to see the urgency when fox news began to report the story. interestingly enough most of the other american media did not pick up on the story. it is purely driven by fox news. martha: why do you think that is, bill? >> i think it's because they are lemmings, that they just all do the same thing, and that the plight of a marine corporal who served his country in afghanistan and iraq and had post-traumatic stress disorder doesn't really matter to them. why do they care? also it didn't make president obama and secretary of state clinton look good because they didn't intervene, at least

publicly and do anything, didn't say anything, so the main-stream media which is dominated by ideological coverage says why do we want to do this? we don't really care about the marine and it's making our people look bad. and then there is the mexican con people event. component. it didn't make mexico look good either. i want to point out to the audience when you hear bad things about fox news from the other people in the media, you can just say, you know what, what did you do for corporal hammer? that's it, the conversation ends. martha: it's a good p point. it seems we dug into this and you want to make sure that you have the story right, that you understand this young man's situation, but from everything that everybody could find out there was no reason to doubt these parents' story. we are looking at pictures of them, 27-years-old as you say separate from post-traumatic stress sis dream disorder and he

wanted to get a way for a little while in costa rica. the congresswoman who has been on this story confirmed with the state department his release. as you say, and if i were his parents i won't open my mouth, i wouldn't say a word until i had my son in my arms, until i knew he was home. >> i assume he's in texas right now, the way these things work, martha is usually the news cycle is a couple of hours behind. so i assume that the mexican authorities got him out of their early. they of course didn't want any press on their side of the border. he's probably in texas now being debriefed. then they'll send him back to florida, and then, you know, hopefully he'll have a nice christmas with his family. that is probably what it is, but we want to again be cautious. we don't want anything to go wrong. so we'll just ror the stor report the story in broad terms, that it looks like the colonel will be back in the u.s.a. very

short will he and let's celebrate a positive. martha: i don't know if we'll learn anything more about the back channel negotiations that may have been going on. we may hear from the state department that they were on it all along and that they didn't want anybody to sort of get in the way of it, that they felt it was better handled that way. his family told us and i know they told you that they didn't believe that was happening. >> no, they didn't. i'm glad the family came to fox news. this is the kind of story that we are in business to do. your program, megyn kelly's program, my program, hannity, we're all in sync, and when we see an injustice we will try to correct the injustice. martha: thank you very much, bill, bill o'reilly. we'll be right back. [ woman ] ring. ring.

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bill: you saw the sad moments of silence last hour in newtown, such a complex story there too. what about hollywood? what about gun violence in movies? hollywood is reacting now, and william la jeunesse is on that story. live in los angeles, william, good morning. >> reporter: bill, you wonder if it's not getting attention because of the money spent lobbying capitol hill. charges leveled at gun industry for defending the second amountment right to own a weapon, while the movie industry fights for its first amendment right to produce violent content. >> it's violent. it's everything you love in a game. your mom is going to hate it. >> reporter: from video games to movies. >> i like it a lot. >> reporter: studies link violence on the screen to violent behavior, yet directors like quentin tara teen owe says so what? >> there is violence in the world, tragedy happens, blame the play makers. >> reporter: tarantino and

others refuse to accept it. >> they send virtually tens of millions of dollars lobbying around the country to make sure they maintain the status quo. >> here in congress what we need now are not more words, what we need is action. >> reporter: they are talking about guns not those who gram more rice them on the screen. who has more influence on capitol hill? since 1998 the nra contributed $16 million to political candidates compared to 40 million from the top five studios. and heavy-weight fundraisers and tkoepb as. like harvey weinstein, george clooney, brad pitt and leonardo dicaprio. such as a rating system requiring any movie with a murder scene get an r rating or violent video games get warning labels like cigarettes. >> there is a fear of confronting, taking on a controversial subject which is so profoundly important to get

done and get done right, that baffles me. >> reporter: both the gaming and the movie industry prefer selfregulation or policing. they spend just as much as the nra lobbying to keep the federal government out of their business. bill: william la jeunesse on that story in los angeles. thank you. martha: paying tribute today to the senate longest serving senator in u.s. history. we are waiting to hear from president obama as the nation remembers senator daniel inouye. bill: a major showdown happening in washington right now that will affect every single american in this country. two republican congressmen are live in a moment to tell us what is next. >> i don't want taxes to go up. republicans don't want taxes to go up. but we only run the house. the democrats continue to run washington. what the president has proposed so far simply won't do anything to solve our spending problem. .s customer satisfaction is at 97%.

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bill: just an alert now on the bitter showdown over the fiscal crisis the clock particularring down to spending cuts and tax hikes for every american and significant military cuts. john boehner was at the podium after his back up plan, plan b was shut down. >> at some point we will have to address the spending problem that we have. but we can't cut our way to prosperity, we need real economic growth. many of us believe on both sides of the aisle the fundamental reform of our tax code will help us get our economy moving faster and put more americans back to work, and more americans on the tax rolls. how we get there god only knows. bill: who knows. ed roeuroyce, republican. jason khaeu chaffetz.

republican. congressman chaffetz you would not have voted for plan b, would you? >> no, yes i wanted to avert as many tax increases as possible. i told the speaker i would support it. i don't liken creasing taxes on anybody. my conscious is clear. we passed a bill in august that extended every single one of the tax rates and would have averted this. it's the united states senate that hasn't acted. but we are where we are. bill: congressman royce would you have voted in favor of plan b? >> yes i'll tell you why. we face a situation on january 1 where every single american taxpayer will see their taxes go up especially when you consider the amt, 33 million americans are going to owe the amt as a result of not taking action. and on top of that we are going to lose more and more leverage

as time goes on, because the president wants as much as he can get in tax increases on the public, and wants to do as little as possible in terms of spending cuts. so, frankly, in these negotiations we've got to strengthen our hand, and so what we're trying to do, we were trying to protect the dividends tax rate. in this measure that we were going to pass out the top dividends rate would be 20% instead of the president's 39.6% which is what he champions. so this was a much better deal than what we're going to face january 1. and we've got to figure out a solution between now and then. bill: yes we do. and all americans are waiting for that. congressman chaffetz first on that, what is next? how do we find a way out of this with ten or eleven days on the calendar? >> well, look, the reality is the current law, if we do nothing, january first every single american will get a massive, massive tax increase, and that's what we were trying to avert. now, the president and harry

reid actually have to produce something. they've been way full of rhetoric, there is a lot of talk. i've been here four years in this congress, the united states senate has never passed a budget. in fact the president's budget four years in a row not a single person, republican or democrat has ever voted in favor of the president's budget. the president is on the president and harry reid to not only produce something but pass it in the united states senate. bill: still trying to figure out a way out of this. though. this the senate has not moved as you say in years, will they move now? congressman royce what is your view on this about how you would tell your own folks, the people that you represent there in washington about the next step forward? what is it? >> well, think about this. obviously the next step is for the president and the speaker to reach an agreement. but now to do that, when the president of the united states is asking for more spending, asking for another stimulus bill

despite the fact that the last one didn't work. and so as republicans we are not good to increase spending. we want to see spending reduced. clearly we see this as a spending problem, long range. so our hope is that as we get closer to that fiscal cliff we can get the president to come our way. if we can get this compromise that will keep the taxes from going up and at the same time will hopefully address some of the long term entitlement points -- bill: on those points congressman as you try to move through that, what is the danger to the economy in the meantime? >> as you can imagine, on january 1st if we saw the types of spending -- of tax increases that would hit this economy that the president is supportive of, we would go back into recession. so it's essential, it's essential that we to some degree bend this curve away from the

massive tax increases that the democrats would like to have. bill: what speaker boehner said a few moments ago seemed like the white house was not even offering one-to-one, revenue to spending. the president said the other day he's two to bon or 2.5 to 1. what is it? >> you have to take into account that he wants to increase spending. he has all these new spending programs that he also wants to add on top of this. the mass phraeudz out ithe mass plays out in such a way we'll have a massive multitrillion dollar tax increase without action. the dares ticking. the united states senate is going to go into recess and go to hawaii, i think it's a bad message for the economy. we should have dealt with this months ago. the house passed. we did the responsible thing, we passed a bill in august to keep all the tax rates even. the country has to remember that the house has acted it's only

the united states senate and the president that have not come together. bill: we'll see if we see you both on the 26th of december, some time that week. thank you for your time. martha: what are the consequences this lawmakers do not reach a deal in time? are we on our way as some warn to becoming greece? doug mcelway is live ph washington. there are nice things about greece that you won't mind emulating, but your budget, their economy not one of them. >> the parthanon a nice thing to see when you go to athens. when ron paul was running he got huge applause when he said a government that continues to deval its currency destroys the middle class. >> they don't have the money, they run out of borrowing power, guess what they do. they start printing money. >> reporter: the federal reserve has printed more moon to deep interest rates low.

most economists agree there is a big risk in there, the debt to gdp ratio is 102%. our debt is actually greater now than the amount of money the entire u.s. economy produces. even at historically low interest rates that interest on the debt will cost the u.s. $222 billion this year. 570billion by the year 20, 22 if the rates stay that low. if interest rates ricin slightly every sector of the economy will have a hard time paying its bills. >> servicing the debt is hard now. this is with interest rates at record lows. god forbid something should happen to cause interest rates to go up just a little, back to where they ordinarily would be, the burden of this debt will become immensely greater. >> the problems when they come will appear very rapidly, and they'll appear in the form of the interest rates on government debt going up very rapidly, and once that increase starts it's

going to be very difficult to contain it. >> reporter: it will adversely affect virtually everybody making it harder for people to buy houses and cars, harder for businesses to invest. printing of so much money would fuel inflation. historically it has done that. they say it's only a time before it happens again and when it does it hits the american people very hard from seniors living on fixed incomes to young people trying to save almost anything becomes worth less money. martha, with that, merry christmas to you. martha: ho-ho-ho, thank you very much. bill: fox news alert now we can confirm that john kerry, the senator of massachusetts is president obama's pick to be the next u.s. secretary of state. he would replace the outgoing hillary clinton who has been resting at home in georgetown for the past week or so said to have faller, suffered a

concussion during the benghazi hearings that got underway just yesterday. we talked to senator bob corker about 30 minutes ago who was on the committee who was doing the questions on benghazi yesterday. he says it is more important to have hillary clinton testify before they proceed on the nomination process of john tere kerry, we'll see whether or not that happens. martha: it raises the question if this will obfuscate the question of benghazi. will we here from hillary clinton? that is the big question. bill: this is the words on the markets, down 109. that's not so bad. they said it was the mayan calendar today, right? it's only off 110 points. martha: the outcome of the mayan calendar or the fiscal cliff here. we are all here, it's all good, art laffer is on deck coming up. and the emotional moment that

her soldier son returned home and gave his home the biggest surprise. martha: wow, that's a happy mom. we'll be back. ♪ i'll be home for christmas. ♪ just you wait and see. ♪ ♪ there will be snow and mistle. ♪

bill: here is a moment we wanted to share with you. washington national cathedral, this is the ceremony to honor the late senator daniel inouye of hawaii as his casket is brought into the beautiful church there on the hill in washington d.c. the president will make remarks there in a moment. we also know the vice president is there as well as we remember him in his 88 wonderful years on this earth, and when a life he had. senator inouye from hawaii.

aloha. martha: let's take a look at what is going on in the u.s. markets this morning. it is light trading but everybody was really on pins and needles coming into the morning today after the bell running. down about 116 right now, fairly light trading. a lot of it has been done already for the holidays but it really remains to be seen what the impact will be longer term in the coming months to this. john boehner we heard from him he held a news conference a little while ago. he canceled the vote on his own back up plan known as plan b days before christmas and less than two weeks before the painful affects of the fiscal cliff may indeed be felt by all of us, so where are we with this situation? art laffer has been down this road and sometime roads before, a former economic adviser to president ronald reagan and we always like to get his thoughts on these sort of pivotal moments for us. good morning, art, good to see you. >> good morning, martha, how are you this morning?

martha: i'm doing just fine. what did you make of this whole scene last night when they canceled the vote? >> yeah, it means that the democrats aren't willing to do anything. john boehner went way out of his way to do plan b. you know the senate said they won't even take the bill up. the president said he'd veto it. most of the republicans find it a tough pill to swallow and there wasn't one democratic congressman who was willing to go along with plan b. i just don't get it. the democrats have made it so that this is impossible to do and they put john boehner into a corner and he think john has done a great job of trying to get something out but there is nothing to get out. there is no give on the democratic side at all and they've got to take ownership of this tax situation. martha: so then what happens, do you think? >> it's already happened much of it. a lot of people have shifted income out of 2013 into 2012. we are going to have a very bad couple of quarters in 2013, that is already baked into the cake. and, you know, i think there will be some negotiations somewhere, but making this drag along like this is just

absolutely pure washington politics. and it's sad that we can't get together. martha: the market sort of reads the economy, tries to figure out -- a lot of the market increases that we've seen over the past several months have been because companies have been operating in such a lean manner. they are not hiring, they are managing to turn out their products and services in a much more kind of efficient way. there is not much inclination for them to hire more people especially if they think they have to cover them with healthcare benefits and all of that. what is your sort of outlook for 2013? the president believes that we are in the middle of what is going to be a bubbling turn around. >> it's not going to be a bubbling turn around. i think 2013 will be one of the worst years we've seen, and 2014 i don't think is going to be a lot better. this is all politics at its best. you can't tax an economy into prosperity, martha, you just can't. what we need is something like the 1986 tax acts.

there are lots and lots of democrats who would love 86 tax act of lowering rates and broadening the tax base. there because a great article in the "wall street journal" yesterday by a democrat will marshal suggesting exactly that. that is the crowning glory of good economics, the 86 tax act. we could do it if the president and reid and pelosi would no a along witness but that is just not hang today. martha: it's a tough political -- >> they love the politics. martha: a very devisive situation we're dealing with. >> it's very devisive politics and they are still in campaign mode, it's too bad we need to govern this country. this is one of the worst recoveries ever in u.s. history. we have people suffering in the inner cities who have not had a job for four or five years. teenagers, they've lost all the skills to work, they'll be never brought back into the mainstream

and these people are dancing and fiddling while rome is burning. it's too bad we have to wait a couple, three, maybe four years before we can bring good economics in. martha: i hope that is not true. spend some time with your families, enjoy the holidays, and sit tight. >> i have a great family and you have a great, great holiday season, martha, merry christmas to you. martha: you too art to you and yours. always good to talk to you. bill: jon scott standing by. another nice man. merry christmas to you jon what is happening. jon: merry christmas to you bill. do you remember when the friday before christmas was always kind of quiet, not so much going on? we have a new nominee for secretary of state. the nation is coming every closer to the fiscal cliff with no answers in sight and not much time to get it done. the stock market is sliding. we've got a new report out today, or congressional hearings i should say after that report on the benghazi haefrplgts is

therhearings. is there going to be finger pointing on capitol hill? we'll talk with a u.s. senator. so much happening now. you don't want to miss it. bill: merry christmas to you. fox news alert fox news confirms john kerry to be nominated as the next u.s. secretary of state. the senator from massachusetts. if he is confirmed who gets his seat? is scott brown headed back to washington? stay tuned.

bill: some people super hard at work in the northeast. are those in the religious community at work this holiday season in the aftermath of super storm sandy and also the newtown, tragedy. lauren green is on that story

for us, our religious correspondent. >> it has been the worst of times for many. it's the groups from various religious traditions to help to fill the spiritual void. >> there is no answer to why this happened today. we just have to work together and stay together and try to be a comfort and consolation for each other. >> reporter: president obama traveling to connecticut to lead the nation in a multifaith display of unity for the victims. >> i am very mindful that mere words cannot match the debths of your sorrow, nor can they heal your wounded hearts. >> reporter: religious groups are able to mobilize quickly after tragedy strikes, but it's more than just having organizational skills without government red tape, it's what religions are designed for. >> they are designed to attach us in a sense to eternal truths, and to remind us that there is something greater than our own individual need and our own individual desire. >> reporter: when hurricane sandy hit and destroyed so many

lives it was religious groups among others who came to help. >> it's not so much religion but relationship to god. and what we've seen on staten island is an unprecedented movement of churches coming together, and it's beyond doe nomination. >> reporter: a hanukkah celebration doubles as a charity event helping those who suffered at the hands of sandy, bringing a message of light to a darkened world. >> i can't say that there is a perfect time for the storm, because no storm is perfect, but the most perfect holiday to 0 come after the storm is hanukkah that gives us a tremendous message of hope. >> reporter: these tragedies remind us to lay aside our differences to focus on our common need and give back to our community, not just during this holiday season, but bill, all yearlong. bill: thank you, lauren, merry christmas. martha. martha: we are waiting for a news conference on the deadly benge arterror attacks.

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